From the monthly archives:

January 2010

Behind the Scenes

Unhappy Hipsters

I love see­ing homes that are thought­fully designed, even ones that aren’t to my per­sonal tastes. But some­times I look at the sub­jects of mag­a­zine design sto­ries per­fectly posed in their beau­ti­fully arranged homes and I think Who ARE these peo­ple??!? Their homes look so sorted and pris­tine. Where are the scream­ing kids? The end­less scraps of […]

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Artwork

Quilts on display

A dis­cus­sion of my visit to an exhibit of antique quilts, Kalei­do­scope, at the Tex­tile Museum of Canada.

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DIY

Weekend projects using salvaged windows

Many thanks to loyal reader Mag­gie for tip­ping me off to what seems to be a epi­demic of cre­ativ­ity over in the Cot­tage Life forums. Sev­eral mem­bers are show­ing off their own crafty ways of using sal­vaged win­dows.
I love the look of old win­dows in a house, although real­ize that they are quite inef­fi­cient com­pared to newer […]

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Gadgets & Gear

Green your shower, save your septic

While it’s impor­tant in these eco-​​​​conscious times that we all takes steps to curb our water con­sump­tion no mat­ter where we are, at the cot­tage, where sep­tic sys­tems are our most sen­si­tive friends, the issue takes on added urgency. On an aver­age sum­mer week­end at my cot­tage, there are about a dozen peo­ple shar­ing the shower […]

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Accessories

What to do with old candles

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the best can­dles to use at your cot­tage. In response, I received an inge­nious idea from reader Jo-​​​​Ann:
“I use the left­over wax from those burnt down can­dles to cover pinecones to use as fire starters. I save those “bits,” melt them down in a pot on the stove, and then dip pinecones […]

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Building and Architecture

Tricked-​​out treehouses

When I left the house this morn­ing, I heard birds chirp­ing. Not a com­mon sound to hear in Toronto in Jan­u­ary, espe­cially this year when it seems as thought the tem­per­a­ture has only rarely risen above –10 degrees. Was it ever soul pol­ish­ing to hear that squeaky reminder of spring.
Ah, yes, spring.
It also reminded me of some­thing I’ve […]

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Accessories

Upcycling ideas from Simple Home

A charm­ing new book landed on my desk last week. Sim­ple Home by Mark and Sally Bai­ley (Ryland Peters & Small, $39.95) packs a load of inspi­ra­tion into its 160 pages. Although the British design duo has worked with such high-​​​​end fancy design­ers as Ralph Lau­ren and Donna Karan, their aes­thetic isn’t overly pol­ished at all; […]

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